It had to happen eventually, but it took a bottle of mead and a late night and finally signing off of work to realize it.  I am going. I am really going. I have this sleep, the one that's coming for me fast even as I type this entry, and one abbreviated one more, and that is it. A little over twenty-four hours and I am gone.

I am lying on the guest bed next to a surprisingly small pile of items that must go with me. Is this all I need of life for two weeks?  Really?

I've turned off all the lights except the lava lamp, whose glow is strangely soothing, and put away my books.  (Wizards of Earthsea is for the plane, so quit dipping into it already, Amy.) I need to wind down, and sleep, and yet suddenly it is all too real and all too soon and all too horribly far away.

Tickets are booked to Paris; tickets are booked to San Francisco.

We will be six in San Francisco, with tagalong extras depending on the day and the inclination of our local friends.  We have nebulous plans:  look for us in the cheap seats at the Giants-Astros game on July 4.  I'll be the one in the bleachers with the beer; that's all you need to find me in the crowd, right?  We'll do a night tour of Alcatraz and I'll relearn the San Francisco bus system and pictures, pictures, pictures!

A week in San Francisco.  We'll celebrate Suzan's birthday and tag along behind Asai in Chinatown.  Asai learned last night there's a temple there; amidst the touristy time and stomping all over the city, we'll probably take a few minutes for prayers. 

Sunday: with Drupalcon having ended, we check out of the hotel, struggle to find food, and stagger home.

Final day of Drupalcon. Documentation sprint, last lunch at Old Dominion with new friends, followed by a sprint north to Silver Spring for barbecue with David, Katie, @vulcansmuse, and the Frankenberrys.

Drupalcon. Final day of sessions.

Second day of Drupalcon sessions. Beginning to think I've got the hang of this.

Drupalcon begins.

After having met the systems librarians, I crash for a few hours at Katie and David's house, then head south into Washington DC proper to help set up Drupalcon. Can we say slight case of terror? I think so.

I managed to be in DC for the snowstorm ... yay? This, of course, would be the day I needed to tromp all over creation to meet the librarians...

I'm in Washington DC visiting old friends, new friends, librarians ... and oh yeah, going to DrupalCon. Here's what I've been up to: